[coreboot] Dell latitude c610

Joseph Smith joe at settoplinux.org
Wed Apr 1 04:22:16 CEST 2009




On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 01:29:30 +0200, Michal Janke <m.yankee at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/3/31 Joseph Smith <joe at settoplinux.org>:
>>
>> Hello, Looks like an i830 chipset laptop. I would love to see coreboot
>> running on an i830 chipset laptop. I wrote the i830 code (with lots of
> help
>> from everyone here:-) ) and would be glad to help in any way that I can.
>> Looks like the first thing is to get your SMSC LPC47N252 SuperIO
> working.
>> Most of the SMSC LPC47* are closely related from a programming stand
> point.
>> I think everything else is supported by coreboot. The only concerns I
> have
>> is with the graphics (LCD) and battery charging. See:
>> http://www.coreboot.org/Laptop
>> If your willing to give it a go, I woud be glad to support you any way I
>> can. If you want some base code to start with you can use the RCA RM4100
>> (i830 based set-top-box). Hope that helps.
>>
> 
> Thanks for your reply, Joseph. Sounds quite encouraging. Could you
> suggest, what I can start with? Qemu maybe? 
> 
If you want to start with Qemu, to get familiar with coreboot, that would
be good.
But if your really serious about this and want to dive right into real
hardware the first thing you need to do is get your SMSC LPC47N252 running,
I suggest downloading the datasheet and a few other LPC47* datasheets that
are supported to find the closest matching one. If your serious about this
get ready to send some time reading datasheets. Even though sometimes they
can be dry reading they are a wealth of information. Once you get your
SuperIO running you will be able to get serial console output, So you can
see what is happening.

You are going to want to socket your FWH chip and even order a few extras
from your favorite electronics supplier (ex: www.mouser.com or
www.newark.com).

> Do you think there would
> be a need for a lot of programming?
>
Well there is always room for improvement, but most of the coded needed has
already been laid down for you.

> I hope I would be able to handle this. Any I will surely need quite
> some help... It's been quite a while since I last wrote any
> significant portion of code.
>
No problem I am a novice programmer, I think I just have a good
understanding of how things work. And, with a little help from my Peers, I
am able to translate that understanding into code.

> 
> What did you mean I should look for at http://www.coreboot.org/Laptop?
>
Ah, I guess the page has change a little since the last time I looked at
it. As I remember from our discussions about laptops there are a few
mysteries yet to be discovered:

1. What controls battery charging
2. Blacklight control
3. Open / close lid sleep functions
4. Graphics / LVDS (LCD chip) control

I believe the first three can be and already may be a part of ACPI. The
fourth depends on how your VGA is setup. It appears you have this:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6
LY

It is an AGP card from the device number. You may have a seperate VGA ROM
for the ATI card, so the fourth may not even be an issue?

Anyone else want to touch on the mysteries of laptops?

-- 
Thanks,
Joseph Smith
Set-Top-Linux
www.settoplinux.org





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